Top Gun Is Back: Maverick Soars Higher Than Ever

Top Gun: Maverick has single handedly revived mainstream cinema this year.

Legacy

Top Gun: Maverick is a legacy sequel that aims to recapture the nostalgic charm of its predecessor to make money, and this has been an absolute recipe for disaster for Hollywood. However, I’m happy to report that this film is truly one of the biggest surprises in a very long time and has single-handedly saved mainstream cinema this year.Directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Connelly, the film occurs three decades after late director Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986). In this continuation, pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is sent back to Top Gun to teach young aspiring pilots the art of flying F-14 to prepare for a dangerous mission.

Insane Improvement

I’ve always enjoyed the first Top Gun but never had much nostalgia for it. But Maverick has taken this franchise to a whole different level. The film has more heart, a stronger story, more fleshed-out characters, and incredible action. We all know that there are only sporadic cases of sequels being as good if not better than the first, and this is a rare exception.

Tom Cruise is passionate about creating the best cinematic experience he can deliver. This is in line with him performing insane stunts. But this film takes it to a whole another level by getting all of the main cast to learn how to fly these violently fast fighter jets. This has garnered unprecedented achievements in filmmaking and created some of the best action dogfights in film history. I was hooked on the adrenaline and the tension as planes swooped from one valley of mountains to the next while getting into firefights with enemy planes. If you thought Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk had great dog fights, this film surpasses that.

Mainstream Cinema Success

The film market has been up for debate for the best several years due to the primary domination of superhero films. Many filmmakers and filmgoers have stated that original movies are not getting a chance because of these giant IP-based blockbusters. Though Top Gun: Maverick is technically a sequel to an existing IP, many filmgoers, especially the younger generation, are experiencing this film first with little to no knowledge of the first film’s existence or impact. Maverick is a true and pure action blockbuster of old that has surpassed every superhero film, let alone every movie at the box office this year. The hope is that Paramount doesn’t take this success as a way to create 15 spin-offs and sequels for the Top Gun franchise.

Closing Critiques

Though Top Gun Maverick is excellent, it is by no means a perfect film. It has certain plot conveniences and aspects I wished were fleshed out more. Though Jennifer Connelly was great in the movie, I wish her character’s inclusion was a bit more meaningful to the story. Also, We could’ve used more scenes with the Top Gun recruits interacting as there are so many, and it was hard to distinguish and keep track of a lot of them except for Miles Teller, Glen Powell, and the only female recruit played by Monica Barbaro. The film also builds on this dangerous mission for which the stakes are constantly reminded to us. Yet I wish more casualties or consequences were coming from the mission itself. But either way, Top Gun Maverick is one of the best films to release this year, and I cannot wait to see what Mr. Cruise has in store for his upcoming film, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One.

Raving Rating: 8.1